First, let me apologize for the long silence here on the weblog. It turns out that neither Sydney nor Katoomba had internet cafes that made keeping the weblog up-to-date easy. Anyway, I’m back in NZ now and I will be bringing the weblog up to the current date as quickly as possible. There’s a lot to write about, so it might take a few days.
So, the last time I wrote anything I had a few days to kill before leaving for Sydney. I ended up having a very quiet couple of days around Christmas. I did a lot of cooking (fresh bread, fresh biscuits, mac & cheese, buttermilk pancakes, and sweet potato chili). I shared a few meals with the hostel owner Stephen and his family. He also opened up his above-the-office apartment to some of us regulars and we all watched “Ben Hur” and “Cliff Hanger”. I also went swimming a couple of times. I think I prefer fresh water lakes to salt water gulfs, but water is better than no water. As a sailor, it felt very strange to deliberately put myself in the surf-zone, which normally I try to avoid like the plague.
Finally on the 28th I decided I had enough of sitting on butt and I took the bus down to Auckland. I walked through Albert Park on the east side of town, and then on to the Auckland Domain. The Domain had a small arboretum and a couple of hothouses, as well as the Auckland War Memorial Museum, which after Te Papa was a bit of a disappointment. I took a walk down Parnell Rd and scouted out another hostel (Alan’s Place). I had been walking for several hours all told and was feeling tired, so I took the bus back to Orewa and called it a day.
The 29th was a travel day. I took two buses to get from Orewa to the airport, and then flew to Sydney, NSW, Australia. Another bus saw me in downtown Sydney. I checked in to the Sydney Central YHA, and immediately did what I always do in a new town - head for the waterfront. I walked up Pitt St to Circular Quay. I took a lot of pictures of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and of the Sydney Opera House. The Opera House is a very difficult building to photograph. The tiles of the roof are highly reflective, creating a lot of glare from the sun, and also picking up the color of the sky instead of their own off-white tones. This day also saw me make the most expensive phone call of my life. I spent NZ$5 for a one minute call to New York. It seems that NZ Telecom cards don’t go very far in Australia. I picked up an Aussie “Say Gidday” card, which offered a rate of AUS$0.03 per minute to the US to pick up the slack.
The next day was Monday the 30th. I did laundry first thing and then headed out to explore the city. Since I was in Sydney and the Opera House was so famous, I decided I owed it to myself to actually attend a performance. I made a call to the box office and got one ticket for Mozart’s Don Giovanni for Jan 7th. Now it was time to get out and about again. My first stop was the Sydney AMP Tower to get a view of, well, everything. I spent about 2 hours on the top level, and had a slice of chocolate cake in the cafe, nibbling while looking down on the scenery. After coming back down to earth, I went on the Skytour ride. This was mostly cheesy, but the last part where they sit you in a chair which lifts up and then banks and tilts along with the movie being played and this was actually a lot of fun. After the tower experience, I walked through Hyde Park and took pictures of some statues. On the way back to the hostel and dinner, I stopped at a movie theater and bought myself a ticket to “Die Another Day”. After I had eaten I went back and watched it. I guess it was ok.
For New Year’s Eve it was impossible to find a cheap place to stay. I ended up in a hotel-ish kind of place north of Sydney harbor called St Leonard’s Mansions. Sydney has a very good train/subway system, so it was quite easy to get over to them. Once I had checked in, then I had to figure out where I wanted to watch the fireworks from. The staff was very helpful and I eventually settled on a park called Balls Head Reserve. They also informed me that there were two fireworks show planned: one at 9pm for the kids and the real show at midnight for the old folks. It took about an hour to walk to the end of Balls Head, and I got there around 8pm. Of course, I had brought a book (Nobel House by James Clavell). 9pm came and went and no fireworks. Eventually the word went around that they had been canceled because of too much wind! I felt like I was right back in the Louis Vuitton Cup. The wind was actually quite bad and if you looked the wrong way you would get lots of dust and sand in your eyes. So, I went off in to the woods and settled down to read for a couple more hours. Eventually midnight rolled around and went back to the edge to watch the show. The fireworks were pretty good, though not like NY or San Francisco. Then of course I had a one hour hike back to the hotel, in the dark, in an unfamiliar neighborhood. I did have a map and I got back without any wrong turns.
New Year’s Day itself was a lazy day. The weather was overcast and rainy, so I stayed in and watched a lot of TV.
Jan 2 saw me back in action. I took the train in to Central Station in Sydney and switched from the subway system to the commuter train / long distance system. I bought a ticket for Katoomba. After two hours on the train I was there. While on the train, I met a nice family from the UK who were out on holiday and we all chatted for the whole ride. Checked in to the Katoomba YHA, which has an excellent atmosphere. I really liked this hostel - it’s clearly my favorite YHA so far. Super clean, great location, comfy beds, great social lounge.
The next day was Friday the 3rd. The reason I came out to Katoomba was that the Blue Mountains and the Three Sisters had been recommended to me by everyone I spoke to about Sydney. I decided I was going to do a big hike. I put together a bag of gorp, filled up my Nalgene water bottle and grabbed a few pieces of fruit. I walked from the hostel to the info center, which is poised on the cliff top, much like at the Grand Canyon. The place was teeming with tourists, which made my skin crawl. I took one picture from Echo Point and then set off at top speed to find the staircase down. It is called the Great Staircase, and let me tell you, it deserves the name. In some places it is more of a ladder than a staircase, and about halfway down my legs started shaking from the strain. I made it to the bottom, and promptly set off on Federal Pass hoping that a more level grade would give my legs time to not feel so rubbery. When I got to the halfway point at Katoomba Falls I stopped for lunch. After half an hour’s rest I finished Federal Pass and started up the Furber Steps. There was a Swiss couple going up at the same time and we kept leapfrogging each other, they would pass me when I paused, then I’d pass them when they stopped for a break. When I finally got back up to the top I felt fantastic. I was quite proud of the hike and it felt great to work up a sweat like that. I went back to the YHA, took and shower and collapsed in front of the TV. I was quite happy, as I was able to catch a new episode of “Coupling”. My quadriceps recovered in three days, but it took my calves six days before there was no soreness left.
On Jan 4th, it was time to leave Katoomba for Sydney, which I wasn’t looking forward to. Partly it was because Katoomba was so pretty and the air was clean, etc, but also it was because my legs were killing me and walking was painful. I checked out of the hostel and watched cricket in the TV room for a while. Eventually I left for the train station and caught the train back to Sydney. Not being familiar with the buses or exactly where my next hostel was, I hiked around (yes, with my pack) for about 45 minutes to get to the Glebe YHA. After checking in, I treated myself to a AUS$9 sushi dinner.
Jan 5th was a Sunday. Sunday’s in Sydney mean 18 footer skiff races. After some basic research, I figured out I needed to get over to a place called Double Bay. So, I went out to the local newsagent and bought a TravelPass. This is a great deal and is intended for local commuters, not tourists. The tourist passes are a lousy deal, but if you’re going to be in Sydney for more than five days, TravelPass is clearly the way to go. It gives you unlimited travel on buses, trains and ferries within certain city zones. I used mine to take a bus to Circular Quay, and also to take a ferry to Double Bay, and then later in the day to take a train back to downtown and a bus back to the hostel. Once in Double Bay I bought a ticket on the spectator boat. It turns out that this day was heat 2 of the world championships. The boat was packed with family and friends - there must have been three or four dozen boats in the competition. I took oodles of pictures, but I doubt anyone would be too interested in them besides myself or a few maniacal sailing fanatics. Once I got back to the hostel that night, I met two of my roommates: Ralph and Ben. They were in Sydney to watch the fifth and final cricket test match of the Ashes series between England and Australia. I asked them if I could tail along with them the next day and they said sure.
So, on Jan 6th I got up early with Ralph and Ben and we headed off to the (in some quarters) legendary Sydney Cricket Grounds. AUS$40 later I had unwittingly enlisted in the Barmy Army. This is truly the kind of experience you go overseas for. I was surrounded by a large mob of English ex-pats, all of whom were mad about their team. It was almost impossible to watch the cricket, because they were always on their feet, shouting out pro-England songs at the top of their lungs. I had a great time. Ralph and Ben took the time to explain some of the more obscure lyrics and cricket rules to me. Plus, England actually won, which isn’t that common these days. I’m keeping the ticket from this one for the scrapbook. I still can’t get the songs out of my head.
Tuesday was another out-and-about day. I started out by walking over to the ANZAC bridge (aka New Glebe Island bridge). This is one of those funky modern cable stay bridges, and I find them fascinating. After taking a bunch of pictures, I took the bus into downtown. I wandered over to the Chinese Garden. It was nicely done, but it was so close to the city center that the noise and skyscrapers in the background kinda spoiler the atmosphere. Next, I went to the Australian National Maritime Museum. This was actually pretty good. I went on board HMAS Vampire and also the James Craig. In the gift shop I found a CD by a local Aussie group called the Roaring Forties who do sea chanties, which I bought without listening to first. I took a bus back to Glebe, had a quick dinner out, and then washed up - tonight was opera night! I caught a bus to Circular Quay and walked to the Opera House. I found my seat (up in the nosebleed section) and sat back to enjoy the show. I was a tad disappointed. The performance wasn’t significantly better than Opera North. The weakest part of the performance was the staging, which was almost entirely absent. The only time the staging was a factor was at the very end when, in a very Spalding Gray style, the statue bursts in on Don Giovanni - they had very large chunks of the walls fall in loudly and dramatically. I’m glad I went, and it felt wonderful to be in the theater and watch the opera.
Wednesday the 8th brought lousy weather. I decided not to go anywhere. Instead, I sat up on the roof of the hostel and watched the front come in and pass through. The first wave of the storm reminded me a lot of your standard Maryland summer afternoon thunderstorm, with the big, juicy splats of the raindrops and some sun in the distance. That didn’t last long and pretty soon there was driving rain being blown around at 45 degrees and the wind was pushing the lawn furniture all over the roof. My kind of weather!
Thursday was my last full day in Sydney and I wanted to make the most of it. I took a couple of buses in to the Australian Center for Photography, which was tiny and not worth the trip. They only had one exhibit up and it was only supposed to be open to the press until the formal opening that night. I fast-talked my way in, but only stayed for a few minutes. Next, I took a bus to Circular Quay and the ferry out to Manly. Manly is out by the ocean, just north of the entrance to Sydney Harbor. I wandered around and ended up finding another sailboat race to watch. This was the Flying 11s. There was a huge fleet of about 90 boats in this invitational, just prior to the world championships. Having spent some time around Sydney, I am deeply impressed with the number of boats and yachts and the quality of the harbor.
Friday the 10th had arrived, and it was time to fly back to New Zealand. I wasn’t sad to go. Australia is a huge country, and I only saw a small part (Sydney and Katoomba). That said, Sydney was a fairly dirty city, compared to Auckland. The people in Australia weren’t as friendly as in New Zealand. Of course, I must say that having just spent 1.5 months in NZ, of course NZ is much more familiar and comfortable to me. Then there’s the NZ $2 coin being properly and logically larger than the NZ $1 coin, which isn’t the case in Australia. Finally, Australia felt more expensive to me. Anyway, I got to Auckland with no troubles. Oh, I did have one more interesting experience in Sydney - I bought some brandy in the duty free shop. I had never done the duty free thing before.
Yesterday I hustled out of Auckland up to Orewa, but alas, the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup finals was canceled due to too much wind. I did some shopping and went back to Pillows Travelers Lodge to reconnect with the other regulars and the owner.
Hmph. That brings us up to date. Oracle lost to Alinghi today in the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup finals, and it looks like Team New Zealand’s false-hull appendage is legal, so it’s very long odds against the Cup coming to America. I’m going to sort out some photos that are being uploaded and post links later in the week. Oh! And Barry is in New Zealand now!! He’s down on the South Island just now, but he’ll be up here in a week and we’ll take off around the North Island together for a week or two. Stay tuned! My update schedule should be much better now that I’m back here in NZ. Also, my internet hosting provider has done some work on the server - some of you complained about email bouncing or the website being unavailable - that should all be fixed now.